TheNewsGuru

Tag: Amnesty International

  • #Otodogbame: Respect rule of law, Amnesty International tells LASG

    Amnesty International has urged Lagos State Government to respect the Wednesday court ruling which states that the eviction of residents of Otodo Gbame from their properties is unconstitutional.

    The human rights group in a series of tweets on its official Nigerian page, added that the trend of violent forced evictions by Lagos government since 2013 has rendered over 50,000 homeless. This should stop in #OtodoGbame #Nigeria.

    “Lagos governmentt should show respect for rule of law by respecting today’s ruling on #OtodoGbame. Forced eviction never solves any problem.”

    TheNewsGuru.com had earlier reported that Justice Onigbanjo of a Lagos State High Court ruled in favour of residents of several waterfront communities in a suit they brought against Lagos state government.

    The judge released his verdict on June 21, 2017, ruling the evictions as unconstitutional, saying it violates the rights of the residents, especially as it happened without consultation or a resettlement plan in place.

  • Federal court slams Facebook user 6 years prison term

    The Federal High Court on Thursday sentenced a prominent Ethiopian opposition politician to six years and six months for accusing the government of using disproportionate force against demonstrators.

    Yonathan Tesfaye, a Former Public Relations Head of the Blue Party, one of the East African country’s main opposition parties was charged with stirring unrest and inciting terrorist acts.

    He regularly posted statements on Facebook that criticised the government’s handling of protests which started in November 2015 in the Oromia region.

    The Oromo people living in the region, which includes Addis Ababa, feel excluded from political and economic power.

    The protests then spread elsewhere in the country.

    Human rights groups said hundreds were killed during clashes and rioting which calmed down after the government imposed a state of emergency in October.

    “The defendant has acted in a way that threatened the country’s political, economic and social fabric.

    The sentencing came a day after journalist Getachew Shiferaw was found guilty of stirring “revolt.

    “He faces a maximum of 10 years in jail,’’ the report quoted the charge sheet as saying.

    Amnesty International said both Tesfaye and Shiferaw’s verdicts was “a further slap in the face for justice in Ethiopia.

    It accused the authorities of using the judiciary to silence dissent.

  • Amnesty International taking sides with terrorists in Nigeria – Army

    The Nigerian Army has said Amnesty International (AI) is taking sides with terrorists and other belligerent groups to cause internal disorder in the country.

    The army therefore warned the AI from meddling into security issues henceforth in the country.

    The military body gave the warning in a press statement signed by the acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Amnesty International had few days ago accused the Nigerian Military of killing 150 pro Biafra agitators in the South-East.

    AI claimed the Military and other security agencies embarked on arbitrary arrest and extra-judicial execution of people in the South East.

    The statement reads in part: “Activities of the AI in our nation have shown that it never meant well for Nigeria and the situation is getting clearer to national and international communities what AI is up to. This could be corroborated by inherent lopsidedness in the AI’s portrayal of Nigeria, its involvement in local politics and taking sides with terrorists and other belligerent groups to cause internal disorder, which no country can tolerate,” the statement read.

    “The military has maintained open door policy and has been cooperating with all stakeholders in ensuring that Nigerian Armed Forces remains one of the best and a proud institution for all Nigerians.

    “For AI to be making spurious allegations, especially without substantiated and cogent reason, apart from those adduced by the organisation for the reason best known to it and its collaborators, is disturbing and unethical of an international organisation that is supposed to steer clear of local politics and to be seen as maintaining neutrality in its reportage of the countries where it operates,” it further read.

    Speaking further, Abubakar claimed that the AI had only succeeded in giving an insight “to the possibility of the organisation sponsoring various criminal gangs in our country with a view to achieving the sponsor’s intent.”

    It described AI as an agent of destabilisation, masquerading as a reputable international NGO and urged Nigerians “to rise up to this daunting challenge of not giving AI the chance to truncate our hard earned democracy and unity.”

  • Civilian death toll rises in US fight against IS

    Civilian death toll rises in US fight against IS

    The U.S.-led coalition killed 54 civilians between March 31 and Oct. 22 in airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria and Iraq, raising the death toll of civilians to 173 since the start of the campaign in 2014, said the Pentagon on Thursday.

    The civilian deaths occurred in six airstrikes in Syria and one airstrike in Iraq during the period, according to a Pentagon statement, which said some casualties were “unavoidable”.

    Three more reports received in October were still under assessment, said the Pentagon.

    The most deadly airstrike occurred on July 18, 2016 near Manbij, Syria, which claimed 24 civilian lives while killing about 100 IS militants, it said.

    The Pentagon also said the civilians killed were people “who had been interspersed with combatants” in a known IS staging area where no civilian was seen in the 24 hours before the strike.

    The Pentagon’s figures contradict the assessment by London-based Amnesty International, which estimated that about 300 civilians have been killed in 11 coalition airstrikes in Syria alone.